Currently, there is no standardized method for conveying information about aircraft damage and/or malfunction to a centralized decision-making center in a manner efficient enough to enable quick dispatch or grounding-for-repair of an aircraft. Moreover, the methods in use today involve a combination of modes with much of the important data manually typed or verbally communicated. These methods of communication do not allow the information to be stored in a format that adequately captures history and allows forecasting. For example, a verbal telephone repot or an e-mail description can not be efficiently incorporated into a spreadsheet or relational database, or quantified, without a labor-intensive “translation” process by a human operator.
Certain operations on an airplane, though relatively simple, are highly critical and demand skilled workmanship. In heavy maintenance situations, where time is not as critical, individuals with a high skill level can be summoned and/or documents that describe how to do the operation can be reference on nearby computers. The situation is different for an aircraft in line maintenance or at an airport a loading gate. In these situations, it is often not possible to summon individuals with the needed training to the scene, nor is it possible for mechanics to quickly access guidance and/or instructions that describe how to properly perform the operation.
As such, some existing solutions for accessing guidance and/or instructions may require the user to obtain formal training before undertaking the operation and rely on this memorized training even though months or years may have passed. Other solutions may require a user to consult a manual, either via a communication network or in paper form, that is usually available only in central locations and not at the point-of-use.
Some guidance and/or instructions may be delivered to an airplane mechanic at a remote area with a wireless network connection, e.g., Wi-Fi connection. However, wireless capability for networked computers is not always present in remote areas. When present, it is rarely adequate to transmit high-bandwidth data and information, such as photo and video content. Accordingly, conventional solutions that rely on conventional wireless network connections suffer from inconsistent or non-existent wireless coverage in locations where point-of-use instructions are needed.
As a result, there is a need for a standardized, efficient system and method for transmitting data on damage and malfunctions of aircraft structures and systems for rapid decision-making and accumulation of statistical data for analyzing, identifying and forecasting damage trends for quality control and product improvement.